Do you think an attack like the twin towers will ever happen again in our life time?

[Soubriquet]

Watching remember me and world trade centre and it made me wonder would an attack like that ever happen again in our life time?

Im not naive enough to say will it ever happen again because it probably will. 100 years from now, 200 years from now, someone will orchestra another attack.

But do you think an attack like that could happen again in the next 50-70 years?

Please explain to me how to attack a ship without any form of violence?

@whatsitcalledwhen I’m by no means saying that the situation in Gaza is good. I wish the war was over just like everyone else with a shred of humanity. But it’s not an illegal war. Israel is entitled to defend itself against the terrorists who attack it, attempt to save the hostages and prevent Hamas from doing it again. Your definition of terrorism includes the word “illegal” and thankfully defending yourself against attacks is not illegal.

If Wales attacked England, killed a lot of people and abducted more and then publicly said that was just the warmup and they’d be back to finish everyone else off, would you want England to respond in some way? Do you really believe that Israelis should just sit on their hands and hope that Hamas has a change of heart and returns the hostages? Or should they just wait quietly for Islamist terrorists to kill them all? Because it’s a tiny country surrounded by neighbours who would like to annihilate it, so that’s what would happen if Israel didn’t have sufficient military strength to defend itself. Arab countries have already murdered or expelled the overwhelming majority of their Jewish citizens (as have European countries - we’re not innocent) so it’s unsurprising that Israelis believe them when they say they want to kill all of the Jews. Israelis aren’t less entitled to safety and security than us. Horrifyingly, defending their right to exist often leads to war but that doesn’t mean it’s ok to expect them to just lay down and die quietly.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, the Palestinians are no use as human shields against the Israelis because their lives are valueless as far as Israel and the West is concerned. So the human shields falacy is just that, a falacy.

The real human shields are the Jews who are being used as human shields by the Zionists.

The real human shields are the Jews who are being used as human shields by the Zionists

What does that mean? Who are "the zionists" I take it that this is related to your comment on another thread that anti-semitic attacks are the fault of "zionists" and not the people carrying out the attacks.

Cyber attack or localised EMP is more likely in the future.
EMP over a city like NY or Washington could kill hundreds of thousands. Thousands of immediate deaths in fires, crashes, downed planes etc. then, well, imagine the aftermath of Katrina on a larger scale. FEMA or the European equivalent would be next to useless.
I’ll never understand why they are digitising landlines, seems like insanity. Although most house phones need power to work nowadays anyway.

@Kalevala Assuming your question was in good faith, I will attempt to answer. I should make it very very clear that I am not an expert. I did one module of my bachelors degree on the laws of war and that’s it. And it was longer ago than I care to admit!
As far as I understand… Using human shields is putting civilians front of military equipment or personnel to try to protect the military infrastructure. It can be forced (e.g. when Iraq used prisoners of war as human shields in 1991 Gulf War) or voluntary (e.g. when Palestinians surrounded Yasser Arafat in Ramallah in 2003). Either way, the benefiting side is always committing a war crime and a violation of humanitarian law when they force or allow civilians to become human shields. There is some ambiguity about at what stage a voluntary human shield stops being considered a civilian and starts being considered a combatant. It depends on a lot of factors including violence, military training, age, equipment they’re using etc. There is a lot of legal writing on this and I have not read very much of it, but the basic principal is that the protections for civilians in combat go hand in hand with the prohibition on taking direct part in combat. When you start shooting / throwing rocks / driving into the enemy you become a combatant even if you’re not a trained soldier. That brings some protections (e.g. if you are detailed you become a prisoner of war which has a lot of protections) however it also makes you a legitimate military target so you’re much more likely to be killed. It is possible that voluntary human shields are also committing a war crime. But it’s also very difficult to ascertain to what extend average Gazans consent to Hamas using them as human shields.

When Hamas uses human shields it is usually by embedding in the civilian infrastructure or going out to hide amongst civilians (rather than the Golf War style of grabbing civilians off the street and chaining them to military equipment.) Human shields do not lose their civilian status but that does not mean that the legitimate military targets are now no longer legitimate targets. Instead it becomes a question of proportionality. The attack against the military target must not be “excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated”. This is on a case by case basis, I.e. Israel needs a much more specific justification than “preventing future attacks” to justify why they need to kill this specific Hamas operative or destroy this specific military site in order for it to be proportionate. But basically, using a human shield does not irrefutably defend a military target.

“Proportionality” is always a difficult question in any legal context. In the context of Gaza’s civilians / Hamas combatants there is also a grey area around what constitutes taking direct part in hostilities. Although, really, I think the biggest question should be why are international organisations not doing more to prevent Hamas using human shields. The UN knows it is happening and has allowed its own buildings (including UN schools!) to be used for military purposes. Where is the outrage?

In the context of civilian infrastructure it is a bit easier. Hospitals, schools, homes etc are not legitimate military targets and the enemy army cannot attack them. They loose this protected status as soon as they are used for military purposes. However the expectation is that the destruction of civilian infrastructure being used for military purposes is minimised e.g. bomb only the wing of the hospital which is full of ammunition, not the whole hospital and obviously warn the people to get out first.

Planes crashing into skyscrapers - unlikely

terrorist attacks killing large numbers - likely

@Coyoacan As distasteful as it is to say, if Israel didn’t care about Palestinian lives then the war would have been over by October 8th. They have the military strength to destroy the entire of Gaza. It’s a horrific thing to consider and it would be an unforgivable crime, but the fact that they didn’t do it proves that they do care about Palestinian lives. It’s a shame Hamas and the rest of the Arab world doesn’t though!

Terrorists infiltrating into the culture of their enemy and brainwashing their enemy into supporting them.

Got to be one of the most awesome acts of terrorism yet, if not as visually shocking.

The twin towers and the recent attack on Israel both relied on the element of surprise. The authorities in each case were caught napping.

So yes, it can happen again. No country can remain on guard for ever.

@Coyoacan What do you mean by this?
The real human shields are the Jews who are being used as human shields by the Zionists.

Zionism is a political ideology which says that Jews should have self determination in their homeland. Many indigenous peoples want and have some level of self determination, from fully sovereign states to devolution or reserves with different laws. Why should Jews be any different?

The overwhelming majority of Jews (and people) support self determination for Jews (and many other minority groups). There isn’t some evil cartel of “zionists” pulling the strings and controlling anyone else. That’s quite a common antisemitic trope.

Thanks, this is a very good explanation!

Although, really, I think the biggest question should be why are international organisations not doing more to prevent Hamas using human shields. The UN knows it is happening and has allowed its own buildings (including UN schools!) to be used for military purposes. Where is the outrage?

This is something I'd been questioning. It doesn't feel like Hamas have been condemned enough in this conflict or expected to change the way they operate to follow the same rules as everyone else.

It's cyclical, the West attack or arm others who attack the Islamic countries then they attack us and off it goes again.

Seems on many threads that there is various misinformation about different topics

Basically what happened in the tv show, dark angel, an emp

I watched the second plane on 9/11 live, as so many of us did.

October 7th has had the same impact on me in terms of my empathy for the victims and for my personal sense of insecurity.

The Israeli army has often used children as human shields.

Disclaimer I do not know who the tweeter is and so I don't know their position but the photo has been used by numerous media.

https://twitter.com/HATzortzis/status/1714927586843807898

I wonder if @Coyoacan is ever going to explain this comment.

Your pals the Houthis just killed two people.

No more than they're going to explain their comment about how "nearly every war crime Hamas were accused of on October 7th has been disproved".

I wouldn't be surprised. There are always so many global conflicts.

@Coyoacan

Do you actually believe that, even before the news of their most recent murder, that the Houthi terrorists had never killed anyone?

London bombings, planes going missing, recently Israel, Gaza, etc, probably missed out loads in between . Bad things happening all of the time.

@Coyoacan the Houthis have killed thousands and thousands of Yemenis before they started firing missiles at shipping to convince uninformed people they are the good guys. Stupid people chanting for the Houthis need to check up on what's happened in Yeman these last few years! Ignorance.

The stupid people chanting for the Houthis need to be arrested.